Another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust......

Year that is. Another year has come and gone. It went out with little fanfare in my house. We were all in bed before 10:30 and slept right thru the passage into the next decade. I met him in 1989, and we just passed thru 2009. Most of those years have been good years, even really good years. We have had our share of challenges and tragedy, but have always continued on. Gotten better even. Now that the worst year of our life has passed, there is a tiny bit of relief, a tiny part that I can put in a box and seal it up. I can look at that little black box and think, that was then, even though we are still living it now. I can look at that box and think that we will not have to open it again. There are still things to be dealt with and a long way to go down this path with an uncertain end. But that part that is in the box, it can stay in the box. We survived it. Not unscathed, but we have survived it. Some good has even come out of it. The good is the people. There are people I am so much closer to now. People that I know I can count on, people who have stayed the course with me. There are also those that have fractured under the weight of it all. But those that have stood with me, have brought me strength every day. We do not know what is coming, and I cannot even say that the worst is over, but that part that is in the box, it can stay in the box as we move forward. Not unscathed, but we did survive.